Simone Biles has amended her travel schedule during husband Jonathan Owens’ first season as a member of the Indianapolis Colts.
“I will not be traveling to away games this year,” Biles, 29, exclusively told Us while promoting Arcutis Biotherapeutics’ “Skin to Believe In” campaign. “Last year was the first year I went to every single game. That was really hard. I wanted to be there and show up because he shows up for me.”
The decorated Olympian added, “I really wanted to be there and do a whole entire season. So I did it. Baby, I’m going to stay at home this year so I can still work those [road] weekends.”
Biles has attended both of the Colts’ home games this season — September 13 against the Ravens and Sunday, September 27, against the Texans — but was noticeably absent when Indianapolis traveled to Kansas City on September 20 to face the Chiefs.
Owens, 31, signed a one-year contract with the Colts in March, after spending the previous two seasons with the Chicago Bears. When it comes time for game day, Biles explained how she has a lot more to do than simply showing up at the stadium and cheering on her husband.
“When we have family and friends coming in to watch Jonathan at the games, that’s my scheduling,” she said. “Keep them entertained so that Jonathan and still do his recovery and get to practices on time and relax as much as possible.”
Biles continued “It’s just really exciting being able to watch him compete and play every single weekend. It just gives him so much energy and I love seeing that because he just gets to do his thing.”
When she’s not supporting Owens and Colts this football season, Biles is encouraging the roughly 36 million Americans living with inflammatory skin conditions — including seborrheic dermatitis and atopic dermatitis (the most common form of eczema) — to talk with their doctor about long-term, steroid-free, topical treatment options.
Biles has been diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis on her face and scalp and eczema on her arms.
“I was literally scratching and itching and bleeding for years,” she said. “I was like, ‘Girl, just go to the dermatologist.’ But I think admitting that you have that is the hardest step. After admitting it, I was like, ‘OK, I need to go see a doctor.’”
Biles was prescribed ZORYVE foam for her seborrheic dermatitis and ZORYVE cream to manage her eczema.
“It was kind of frustrating because after I admitted I had it, it was so easy to call the dermatologist and she was like, ‘Yep, I just sent off your prescription,’” Biles recalled. “All of the years of bleeding and scratching and it was such a simple solution. But I think we’re so ashamed that we’re going through something that we can’t fix ourselves.”
Dr. Angela Lamb, a board-certified dermatologist, told Us that Biles’ bleeding was the result of her dermatitis, which is defined as an autoimmune inflammatory condition.
“At its core, it starts out as the scaling, it starts out as the itching,” Lamb said. “And then you scratch and it bleeds. It’s those secondary issues that can happen if left untreated that are really a problem.”
